collecting

I apologize in advance for using the word “pamphlets” to describe comic books.

filed under Categories cerebus, collecting, x-men 9 Comments

So I recently acquired a comic that’s been haunting the back of my mind for nearly thirty years:


I glanced through this comic in the shop back when it was released in 1986, and two parts of the book have lingered with me all this time. One, the pronunciation guide on the cover (and repeated several times inside as a running gag):


I have been sort of privately pronouncing the name “X-Men” this way in my head for years. I usually don’t say it out loud, unlike “Defective Comics,” which I say every time I pull down the Detective Comics box because I think I’m hilarious.

And two:


…the shocking Cerebus cameo has stuck with me, because, you see, in the regular X-Men books, Professor X uses Cerebro, a big ol’ computer thingie, to enhance his mutant psychic abilities to find mutants. However, in Xmen (pronounced ZHMEN, one syllable) it is, of course, Cerebus who tracks mutants for Professor X, because “Cerebus” sounds sorta like “Cerebro.” Or, excuse me, “Cerebos,” as the clearly-edited-after-the-fact Us in these word balloons would have it:


I’m not even really sure why I kept this comic, which showed up in a collection recently. It’s not as if I haven’t had opportunities to pick it up in the past, since copies turned up at the shop from time to time. The comic itself as a parody doesn’t really do anything for me. There’s the funny names for the characters, the poking at X-Men tropes, the satirizing of then-current X-Men plot twists and character quirks, and so on, which might play a little better for someone more invested in the X-universe. The comic does feature some nice early work by Charles Troug, who would go on to illustrate Grant Morrison’s run on Animal Man, so there’s that.

I suppose I mostly kept this comic to finally have a physical representation of those two wires this comic crossed in my head so long ago, a print version of the memories still echoing from that brief exposure.

Speaking of Cerebus, this comic came out last week:


…an anthology of parody/tribute stories by cartoonist Cerebus fans, using the Cerebus character as per creator Dave Sim’s decision to allow other folks to use it in new creative works. For the cover alone this probably deserves a place in your Cerebus collection, and you can read about its creation here (and buy a color print here!). The contents are amusing as well, with even the…less polished entries still having an undeniable and entertaining enthusiasm. Like the Xmen book above, it’s probably best appreciated by those folks still in the bag for the property being parodied, and a little too much “reading someone else’s mail” for the uninitiated. But, I’m still game for new Cerebus spin-off stuff, making me the target audience, I guess.

Almost universal reaction from customers at the shop (and even an employee or two) to seeing Low Society on the stands has been “a Cerebus parody comic…now?” which, well, fair enough. It has been nearly ten years since the series ended, but I do have to note that I’m seeing a small uptick in sales on Cerebus trade paperback collections lately, so someone out there is still discovering and reading it. Or, at the very least, upgrading their collections from the pamphlets to the phonebooks. At any rate, I did fear that once it was over, Cerebus would fade into memory, but there appears to be a little life sticking to it yet. It’s a complex, multilayered, and (especially in the latter half) divisive, problematic and controversial work, and still contains a wealth of material to be mined, discussed, criticized, and, yes, parodied.

Anyway, Cerebus: I still need to reread that someday.

Seriously, chimps are terrifying.

filed under Categories collecting, retailing 15 Comments

So in the comments to my last post both Robert in New Orleans and GregNGray mention stores bagging, boarding and / or otherwise preventing the handling of the new comics on display, in one case even requiring folks to go to the counter and request which new comics they wanted to buy after looking at the sealed-off selection. Now, I have to admit, I’ve been sorely tempted by those options after yet another person trying to park on the floor and read all the new comics without buying, or after discovering yet another comic that’s been thrashed beyond the ability to sell when we were somehow not looking. I think it was even pal Dorian who half-jokingly suggested having a store where people would go to the window, tell the trained roller-skating chimpanzee there what comics they’d want, and the chimp would zip off to the rack, grab the comics, and bring ’em back to the window. Why a chimp? Hey, people love chimps. They’re cute, when they’re not doing something horrifically violent. But perhaps I’m getting off-message.

Anyway, it seems like restricting access to the new books by sealing them off, somehow, would do more harm than good. People have got to be able to at least browse a bit, otherwise how are they going to be able to decide if they want to start reading a seventh new Avengers title? Or, you know, anything else new or odd or interesting that may catch their eyes? And I mean “browsing,” not “sitting on the floor mooching free reads of entire books,” which will get you a well-deserved, mostly-metaphorical boot in the ass. Again, I’m certainly sympathetic to the responses of those retailers, but (and I’m saying this without knowing what exact circumstances caused those decisions to be made) a little more employee supervision and attention to the racks may be better in the long run than cutting off access.

Besides, I can’t imagine spending the time bagging ‘n’ boarding all the new comics for the rack each week. Who’s got that kind of time? I’m too busy teaching spoken English to roller-skating chimpanzees.

• • •

GregNGray also notes that he likes signage in his stores, and I agree. I try to put up signs everywhere, particularly identifying which graphic novels are where (from genre distinctions to featured topics and characters — “HELLBOY” or “WALKING DEAD” and the like), to clearly marking the all-ages sections (bookshelves and the new comics rack by the register), big signs on the back issue islands on the floor telling you which letter of the alphabet is where, and so on. I don’t really have a big sign saying “HERE ARE THE NEW COMICS ON THIS WALL,” but it’s a giant wall of new comics, it’s reasonably self-evident, though the new comics for the week do all have “new this week” tags on them. Our back issue bins behind the counters have tags on the front that (ahem) usually have the correct contents marked on them, though I’m shifting and moving comics so often sometimes I get a little behind in updating those. It’s still a work in progress, even after all these years, but I’m trying to get more signs up where needed.

• • •

Luke and the previously-mentioned Robert who is presumably still in New Orleans asked what sticky labels I use to seal comic bags, as using tape on comic bags is a punishment I believe that casts you into the outer ring of the Seventh Circle of Dante’s Hell. In general, we use Avery removable labels, usually the 3/4″ round ones or some of the rectangular ones that you can find perusing these pages. Some stores have their own brand of removable labels, and those should work as well, so long as you see the word “removable” on the package somewhere. I prefer using the white ones, as the colored ones seem to curl a bit more with use, and maybe this is just me, but they seem to be less…sticky, at least for the purposes of sealing and resealing a comic book bag. Anyway, the white ones also allow for a little more clarity when we write notes on them for in-store use (such as the comic’s condition, year of publication, etc.). And, best of all, there’s more of a chance that it’ll come off very cleanly should the sticker accidentally get stuck to a cover, which would be a total disaster with a piece of tape, particularly on older comics.

Now, at home, I also use removable labels, but a while back I scored a cheap deal on some 1 by 3 inch removable labels, which may seem a bit excessive in size, but I cut each label into thin strips which I then use to seal my bags. Since I’m not using those stickers for condition notes, like at store, it doesn’t matter if I don’t leave room for any writing (except for issue numbers, if necessary)…just so long as they’re wide enough for the seal to hold. I suspect I’ll be working on these boxes of labels for years. Unless I can get a comic-bagging chimpanzee to take care of them for me.

Frankly, I’m not sure that’s even entirely true about Adam Sandler movies.

filed under Categories collecting, dc comics, retailing, superman 4 Comments

So I was asked, in response to my post on Monday in regards to DC’s 3D cover allocations, which title was the one I’m getting more copies than what I originally ordered. I probably should have noted it at the time, but, you know, how do you keep a blog reader in suspense? I’ll tell you Thursday: it was the Darkseid issue of Justice League, and I don’t entirely understand DC’s mix of numerology and voodoo in determining how many copies of each comic that each retailer gets in relation to the actual number of copies DC ordered, but apparently they thought Darkseid was going to be A Big One and set print runs accordingly.

I mean, I have no idea how true that is. DC’s allocation formula is apparently based on each retailer’s ordering history for the titles, or something like that, so maybe the comic publishing stars aligned in just the right way for my Darkseid orders to be increased rather than decreased. The mileage of other retailers may, as they say, vary. At least I’m getting all the copies I ordered of that Joker issue, which apparently means DC also anticipated demand and ordered a forest-leveling amount of them. Anyway, in conclusion: 3D covers! I’m looking forward to never talking about them again!

In other news, comic collections, like buses and taxis and Adam Sandler movies, seem to come all at once, and in the last week or three we ended up with about three collections of ’80s and ’90s indie comics, resulting in yet another copy of Yummy Fur #9 in our possession. As you may remember, that was one of the big missing links in my collection that, after a decades-long search, finally was acquired a few months ago. So now here’s another one, mocking me with its availability so soon after I finally found a copy. Sigh…it’s MacKenzie Queen #5 all over again. Please note my accurate prediction regarding current events in that post.

And in variant cover news: why, hello there awesome Jim Starlin variant for Superman Unchained #3:


I enjoy Superman Unchained well enough as is, but baby, like I wrote about at the end of this post, I would much rather read the comic this cover is selling me. (Take a look at this oddly creepy yet amazing Brian Bolland variant, too!)

I probably haven’t even read this comic since 1992.

filed under Categories collecting, dc comics, retailing 12 Comments

So in response to the recent news about DC’s lenticular covers for their Villains Month special event, Twitter pal Joe and I had the following back ‘n’ forth:


This is the Eclipso: The Darkness Within cover in question, by the way, straight outta my collection:


And here’s a close-up of the gem:


Geez, I should have looked a little more closely, and picked one that didn’t still have that bit of flash by the top corner, there. Ah, well. Way to go, younger me.

Now it’s been a while…like “over twenty years” a while, so my memory was that there were two versions of the Eclipso comic, one with a plastic gem and without sans gem…well, that bit is right, anyway, but I thought that you paid a little extra for the privilege of having a big lump on the front of your comic that would dent the comic ahead of it in the box. Turns out I was wrong, thankfully, because I didn’t want to think I dished out an extra fifty cents for that. I do notice that the drawing of the gem is actually removed from the cover that had the plastic gem glued to it, which is nice attention to detail, I think.

Anyway, after a close investigation of the comics surrounding that issue of Eclipso in my storage box, I can determine no damage caused by said gem to any of the comics in front of it. The box was not tightly packed, however, whether by accident or by subconscious desire to avoid pressing anything too heavily against that Eclipso, because like I said in that Twitter post up there, it did occasionally cross my mind that storing that comic was going to terrible, terrible things to other innocent comics. I didn’t worry enough about it to put a backing board or something in front of it as other Twitter pal Christopher suggested, but it was just one of those comic related things floating around in my head, like “which issue of X-Men did snowy Iceman become icy Iceman” and “hold on, I didn’t actually buy X-Force #1, did I?”

Of course, writing about this has me wondering about how our backstock of this Eclipso comic is being stored at the shop. I sure hope we packed the box properly way back when.

Anyway, back to that DC Villains event…I don’t know about the rest of those comics, but we’re gonna sell a billion of those Jokers.

So here’s a comic I’ve been trying to track down for a while.

filed under Categories collecting, pal plugging, swamp thing 10 Comments

I talked before about how I’m not really looking for any more old comics for my collection, outside of an issue of Dog Boy or two, or ’60s and ’70s fanzines. I mean, sure, if something cool comes along I might snap it up for myself, but by and large there’s not a whole lot of specific back issues I’m actively looking for. This comic I acquired a few months back, for example, was the big one, a comic I’d spent years trying to find.

But there is this one comic that I’d been half-interested in buying, one featuring the debut of a character that’s appeared on and off over the decades, that I’d never seen in the shop in all the time I’ve worked here. I’ve always liked its quite striking cover, however, since I first saw it in a long-ago issue of Amazing Heroes, and decided then I’d buy a copy should I ever get the opportunity.

And then, this weekend, there it was in a collection (the same collection where I found the comic with this page, in fact):


Showcase #79, December 1968, featuring the debut of Dolphin as written and illustrated by her creator, J. Scott Pike.

Now I suppose I could have gone online and bought a copy from someone, but it’s not something I was absolutely going crazy from not owning…I just figured that sooner or later, a copy would come by the shop, and hopefully it would be in halfway decent shape (i.e. Dolphin didn’t have a mustache drawn on her). As it turns out, it was far more “later” than “sooner,” but, hey, good enough. And now I own a copy of this comic, and the cover looks just as great in real life as it did in that magazine article and on comic cover gallery websites.

Also in the comic is a reprint of the first appearance of Aqualad, and a one-page text piece explaining the idea of fanzines as well as promoting a couple…which is certainly an added bonus for me, given my appreciation for ‘zines.

In conclusion: just what I needed, another comic…but it is always nice to finally find that one elusive item you’ve been searching for, the long itch that finally gets scratched.

• • •

In other news:

You have your nostalgia triggers, and I have mine.

filed under Categories collecting, retailing 16 Comments

Yup, a few more of these Whitman funnybook pre-packs made their way into the shop, only a few short months after that Star Wars one popped up. And while none of these were from series I particularly perused at the time (aside from my Battlestar Galactica treasury edition, and a single issue from the monthly series), even just feeling the (still-sealed!) bags in my hand took me back to that time, so long ago, when I was reading comics. …Oh, wait, I’m still reading them now. Well, you know what I mean.


Like I said, I had the treasury edition (adapting the pilot film) and one issue…that one issue being #3, which was part three of the adaptation of the pilot film, so, well, my 1970s comic dollar wasn’t very well spent, there, I guess. I keep meaning to check out the issues of this series illustrated by Walt Simonson.


I don’t know a whole lot about Shogun Warriors. I mean, I remember it being on the stands an’ all, and I may vaguely recall the toys the comics were based on as well. This is one of those series that had a price bump partially because it’s a ’70s Marvel title and those are getting harder to find in top condition, and maybe kinda sorta from riding that ’70s toy nostalgia wave even though nobody’s nostalgic for this. (NOTE: I exaggerate for lightly-humorous effect…do not email me with links to your comprehensive “Shogun Warriors Forever” web shrine.)

I can’t even say for sure I’ve ever even looked inside a copy. I’m pretty certain we have a full run in the back issue bins at the shop…maybe I’ll take a look. Someday.


So I was absolutely fascinated with the Micronauts toys as a kid…I think I had a couple of the figures, and maybe a vehicle, but I think a foot was put down at some point and I had to pick between one or the other parents’-wallet-draining sci-fi franchise toy line, and Star Wars received my young nod. But boy, did I pore over the one or two catalogs I had for the Micronauts toys, imagining how wonderful they must have been. The only person I encountered back then who had any extensive collection of these toys at all was some friend of a friend, so my direct exposure to these items was tantalizingly brief.

I only ever read one issue of the series…guess which one…though I kept meaning to get around to reading a couple of the later issues that tied into John Byrne’s Fantastic Four run. Though, oddly enough, this mini-series, which I inexplicably bought off the rack, still remains a favorite.


Most of the three-packs shown here contain the first three issues of their respective series, but this Buck Rogers pack, featuring comics based on the Gil Gerard TV show, holds issue #2 – #4. According to the interesting publishing notes on this Grand Comics Database entry, the numbering of the series picked up from the previous Buck Rogers series published by Gold Key back in 1964. So, you know, just 15 years between issues. I wonder if any of the kids buying Buck Rogers #2 in 1979 were driven crazy, desperately seeking that first issue, thinking they were missing some exciting four-color adventure starring Gerard and Erin Gray and Twiki. Plus, according to that same entry, #10 of the series also went AWOL, just to pick up a few of the Buck Rogers fanboy stragglers not yet driven to madness by the lack of an obvious #1.

Just to show that I am paying attention.

filed under Categories collecting, flaming carrot 10 Comments

A few of you responded to this post in which I wondered what I should read after finishing all the B.P.R.D. comics (which I’m nearly done with, by the way!).

John suggests Planetary, which is a good one, and in fact I did reread the series just prior to the long awaited last issue being released a couple of years ago. I could probably stand to read it again, but may give it a while since it still feels like it’s maybe too soon since the last reread.

Michael suggests Yummy Fur, which is fair enough since I just made a big hoohar over finally completing my run. Believe it or not, I’m not really ready for a Yummy Fur reread…I’ve reread Yummy Fur lots of times, relying on the trade paperback for the initial part of the “Ed the Happy Clown” story, and then reading the single issues that continued Ed’s story, and on through the autobiographical (and semi-autobiographical) stuff. When I finally got that issue #9, I read the Bible story back-up since I hadn’t had the opportunity to read it before. And then I put the number #9 in with my numbers 1 through 8 and 10 through 32, and then my full run of Yummy Fur and I pranced though the grassy fields, hand in hand. …I’ll probably sit down and read it straight through sooner or later, though.

Bruce and “Snark Shark” both recommend Grimjack, one of my all-time favorite series and one I do reread, not necessarily in whole but at least in part, every once in a while. I did a full reread of the series a few years back, and have since gone back and reread an issue or seven here and there when the mood strikes me. I’m pretty sure I wrote about reading the James Twilley-era Grimjack here on the site…or at least I posted a lot about Grimjack after reading all those Twilley issues.

Bruce also suggests, along with David G, Legion of Super-Heroes, which David favoring the ’70s/’80s material, while Bruce extolls the virtues of the Legion era circa Legion Lost (original, not the New 52 version). I have been a Legion man, as David G asks, for many, many years, only recently giving up on the franchise following the, what, fourteenth or fifteenth reboot. I almost, almost, got back on the wagon when I saw that Keith Giffen was drawing an issue or two of the New 52 Legion, and that the Fatal 5 were coming back, and oh boy oh boy the Legion fanboy buried deep within me nearly clawed his way back to the surface, but I stopped him just in time.

…I have reread some short runs of Legion not long ago, such as the “Great Darkness Saga,” and I feel like I reread all the “Five Year Later” stories straight through to the Zero Hour “conclusion” not too long ago (well, maybe about ten years ago), so I’m probably good on those for the time being. However, those later stories that Bruce mentions, the Legion Lost and Legion Worlds comics, I may go back to soon. …I don’t even remember what Legion Worlds is about, so that’s probably a good candidate for a return visit.

philfromgermany is going to make me admit my secret shame: I’ve only read a smattering of Suicide Squad, Hourman and the Christopher Priest Black Panther. …I know, I know, I’m a horrible human being and should be ashamed to call myself a comics fan, but I can say I did like what I read, and should the opportunity arise, I’ll attempt to read them all in toto. (“You stay out of Toto!” “Sorry, Dorothy!”)

Aaron asks, in regards to my Flaming Carrot mention, if I backed the Kickstarter to reprint issues 6 through 12 of the series. Sadly, I did not, but I am glad that the Carrot comics are remaining available for people to read. I really do think that’s going to be the next Big Reread for me, though I’m sure it’ll remind me I don’t have the Kilian Barracks one-shot which always frustrates me. (But I have at least read it at one point, so I can’t complain too much.) I’m especially looking forward to rereading the Carrot comics with Harvey Jerkwater’s particular interpretation in mind.

And in response to Bill: I mean removable labels like these to seal your comics. Pretty much the only thing I use to seal comic bags at home and at the shop. Avoid those pesky tape tears!

• • •

Thanks to everyone for your kind words regarding my post about Errol. I’m still in that phase where I’m still not quite accepting the idea that we’re never going to see him again. I mean, it doesn’t seem like he’s passed away…he only came to the store once a month, with calls between, so right now it just feels like he’s running a little behind on his regular schedule, not that he’s gone forever.

…Sigh. Stop dying, people I like.

In case you were wondering how “issue numbers” worked.

filed under Categories collecting 12 Comments

So a while back I decided I was going to go through and put all my B.P.R.D. comics in numerical order, as opposed to the alphabetical order they had been in. For those of you who aren’t familiar, the B.P.R.D. comics (as well as its parent comic, Hellboy) are released in a series of mini-series, each with their own numbering, starting over with a new number one when the next mini-series starts. However, in addition to that numbering, there is a secondary overall numbering system noted in each issue for the B.P.R.D. comics as a whole: B.P.R.D. The Black Flame #1 is also #18 of the whole shebang, as an example.

At least, that’s how it worked ’til the recent release of Hell on Earth: The Return of the Master #3, when the internal numbering system was moved to the cover with a big, fat “#100” for all to see:

The cover numbering has continued forward from that point, though there are still companion B.P.R.D. mini-series that retain their own, separate numbering.

Anyway, that finally got me to go through and number all the issues on the removable labels (not tape…never tape, God help you) I have sealing the bags shut, using the list found here so I didn’t have to slow myself up by opening each and every issue to note the issue number. (Which is good, since they momentarily screw up the issue numbers in the comics around #57 anyhow.)

Now, I couldn’t just put all these in order and then throw the box back on the Vast Mikester Comic Archives shelves. Oh, no, of course not. After the Orderingening, I picked up B.P.R.D. Hollow Earth #1 (the very first B.P.R.D. comic):

…and read my way forward. I’m up to about issue 64 or so, and it’s quite the addicting page turner, where I find myself saying “well, maybe I’ll read just one more” after finishing each issue. And, like I did when I read all of The Boys over a relatively short period of time, I found myself catching storytelling nuances, or being reminded of certain plot points or character relationships, that I had missed or forgotten in reading these comics in serialized form over several years.

For example (and I don’t know if this is really a SPOILER or not, but here we go), I had somehow managed to forget Panya’s origins as a revived Egyptian mummy. That doesn’t seem like the kind of thing one would forget, but somehow, my impression of “weird psychic woman with perhaps dubious motives that the B.P.R.D. picked up at some point” overtook my memory of “…who also was a mummy” and she was just yet another oddball character hangin’ with the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense. Not that she still isn’t, but it’s odd that I somehow lost track of where that character had originally come from.

Part of it is, I think, not having reread the particular issues that involve Panya’s specific circumstance since they were originally released. Alas, I am at the point in my life when going back and rereading things is more the exception than the rule. Used to be, as a young Mikester, I’d go back and reread books I’d liked, comics I’ve collected, and so on. Now, who’s got the time? When I’m reading these comic series, I’m reading each installment with a month (or so) gap between issues, and I’m generally not going back and rereading previous issues to be fresh on every single plot point. For the most part, for most comics, that’s not a problem. But once in a while, particularly in series deep in plot and characterization subtleties like B.P.R.D. and The Boys, I can lose track of a detail between issues, and that loss is only compounded with each subsequent issue, separating me even further from that particular detail I may have forgotten. Even something like “she was a freakin’ mummy, you idiot.”

The plus side of this is, of course, the experience has sort of a fresh and new feel to it, going back and rereading this all from the beginning. Certain Big Moments are still stuck in memory, but it’s been long enough that finding out how even those Big Moments fit within the context of the overall story is still a fine pleasure. And to a certain extent, even knowing how particular events turn out, like a character death, it’s been long enough since I’ve read these stories for part of my brain to still think “surely they can get that character out of that trouble.” Basically my brain is working against me too, is what I’m saying.

I’m also sort of thinking what should be next in my Big Reread. In recent years, I’ve read through all the post ’80s reboot Superman, the Baron/Loebs Flash, Concrete, Grendel…I’ve come close to rereading all of Cerebus, but I feel like I’m not quite ready for that yet. I reread all of Nexus about a decade ago, and those recent Nexus installments in Dark Horse Presents kinda want me to do it again really soon. And I should do a Love & Rockets reread…the stuff after the original magazine series, since the mags I’ve probably read about a million times. Well, not literally. You probably realized that.

Maybe, once I’m done with B.P.R.D., I’ll go through my Flaming Carrots. We recently got a number of these in a collection at the shop, and that reminded me of how much I liked those comics, which is the sort of thing that usually gets me to dip into the long boxes at home and pull out my own copies to look at.

I wonder what subtle plot points I’ve forgotten about in those early issues of Flaming Carrot? Like maybe the revelation that the Carrot’s secret identity is actually a fit and fightin’ trim Dean Martin or something. I’ll let you know what I discover.

The quest, she is over.

filed under Categories collecting 14 Comments

So Scott McCloud…and this isn’t just name-dropping, this will be important later in the post…was clearing out some storage space, and in the process of making two storage units into one decided to unload a small portion of his comic collection. Not nearly everything of course, mostly just redundancies he also had in collected editions and such. Pal Nat was good enough to haul ’em over to the shop on Scott’s behalf, and we certainly found a few goodies in there we could use.

But most importantly, in that collection was a copy of this:


Ah, Yummy Fur #9, at last we meet. And now, after literally decades of searching for this issue, my Yummy Fur run is now complete. …I get a prize for that, right?

I’ve mentioned once or twice before about my ongoing search for this elusive little bugger, and now…well, I don’t really have any comic collection white whale to hunt down any more.

But that Yummy Fur. That was the thing. That was what I looked for at shops and at conventions and on the eBays and the Amazons and never seemed to come across a copy. And now I have it, and I, once the hungry young comic fan on his ongoing desperate quest to fill holes in his collection, no longer have that drive, that need, and now, old and tired, will just slowly fade away into comic collecting history as tomorrow’s comics fans push me aside.

Oh, wait, I still need Steve Lafler‘s Dog Boy #9 from Fantagraphics. Okay, forget all that “fading away” business. I’M STILL IN THE GAME, BABY.

And now, the reason I mentioned this was Scott McCloud’s collection (and in case you worried…I checked with him, he’s okay with me talking here about the store getting some of his comics) was because also in the collection were a handful of these title dividers that were made up for a certain special project of his:


For those of you not familiar, this was the title of a mini-comic by Scott and Matt Feazell featuring Scott’s Zot! characters, released between the conclusion of the initial 10-issue color run of Zot! and the launch of the black-and-white run. And in fact, it looks a little something…like this:


Alas, there were no actual copies of Adventures of Zot! in Dimension 10 1/2 in the collection, but having these custom-printed title dividers for them is pretty neat*. They’re full-sized, so you’d have to put your AoZiD101/2 mini-comic in a standard bag and backing board for proper back issue bin display. Also, as an additional bit of personal trivia for you to log into your “Important Facts About Mike Sterling” journal, this was the first Zot! comic I’d ever bought…which then sent me on a search for the previous ten issues, resulting in one of my previous comic-collecting white whales (since found), Zot! #5.

(EDIT: Okay, ignore my previous assumptions about the purpose of that divider. Nat corrects me on the fact that the mini isn’t “Adventures in Dimension 10 1/2” but rather the original “10 1/2” from which the later, actual, full-comic-sized Zot in Dimension 10 1/2 comic takes its name, and is most likely the intended recipient of today’s featured title divider. And now I have a headache.)

So thanks, Scott! I promise to give your Yummy Fur #9 a good home! I’ll also give one of those title dividers a good home, too, because I’m totally keeping one of those since, you know, I need to be able to find my copy of Adventures of Zot! in Dimension 10 1/2 easily.
 
 

* I wonder if there was ever the temptation to make really humongous title dividers for his oversized Destroy!! comic.

Frankly, writing those prediction-discussion posts was really biting into my Batman: Arkham City-playing time.

filed under Categories collecting, other swamp creatures, popeye 5 Comments

I’m going to pick up on the prediction commentary next week, since both you and I can probably stand a break from it. But don’t forget to submit your own predictions for this coming year! And in other news, I am my own worst enemy.

In the meantime, I suggest you all run out to your local comics emporium and get yourself a copy of Classic Popeye #6, featuring one of those space-filling prose stories that I’m going to recommend you actually read:


…Not that it’s any pillar of originality or anything…you’ll see the ending coming almost just by looking at that title banner, but the interplay between sweetly devious Swee’Pea and the irascible Poopdeck Pappy is a lot of fun. …Speaking of that banner, is that great or what? It really did make me want to read the story, and now I want to go back and read those previous text pieces I’d ignored.

Also, completely unrelated to anything above, since I mentioned being tempted by those Roy Thomas Presents the Heap hardcovers (reprinting Golden Age stories of a proto-Swamp Thing)…yeah, that bullet was bitten and I put my orders in for all three. I am so, so weak. …I’m also thinking of finally getting around to finishing off my runs of books published by 1970s Atlas, because I don’t have enough comics just piled around the house. (Oddly enough, I was reinspired to do so by a customer of mine filling out his New Universe collection.)

Anyway, I hope you’ll forgive me my brief break in discussing your predictions…I’ll finish up next week. And besides, I posted every day this week so far…what kind of crazy person would post on a blog every day?